Monday, January 26, 2015

LIBRARIANS #107 "Rule of Three" Answer Post

Man, I love this episode.

As we’ve discussed, a show is rarely ever the show until episode six. You may be either supremely skilled or lucky enough to be hitting home runs right from episode two — more prep tends to allow this, as you’re burning through your 999 bad ideas to get to the 1000th good idea some time during pre-shoot, rather than while in production — but six is usually the magic number. This can be problematic as show orders shrink from 22 to 15 to 13 to 10, but it can be dealt with by -- again -- more prep time and a clarity of intention. This was magic number six for us.

The episode was born through a unusually clean process. We’d thrown a bunch of cards up before the season began, listing variations on themes. Different topics, and the different ways various “types” of shows would handle them. “Witchcraft” was one. “Okay”, I asked, “presuming the show is telling the story of a world with gradually re-awakening magic, what happens to your standard genre-show coven?”

(NOTE the first: the trick to showrunning is to fill the room with smart people, and then ask questions with a tone of voice that implies you already have an answer, but you would like to hear alternates before pitching your own. Do not tell the writers this is how I run a show.)

“Power struggle, because they can all suddenly do real magic, and it’s going to their heads.”

“Fine, so what’s the LEAST likely coven?”

The MOST likely coven is made up of the stereotypical wicca/goth kids, who are suddenly empowered. You can absolutely see that episode of X-FILES in your head. Because in the '80's/90’s, that was the zeitgeist.

(NOTE the second:Attention young people. At one point, America was completely seized by the belief that there was a vast satanic conspiracy infiltrating every suburban community in the nation. Seriously. People went to jail over that shit. )

(NOTE the third: I don't believe in the supernatural, so please rest assured I respect Wicca as much as I respect all other more traditionally accepted religious beliefs -- as one of many available cool personal operating systems one might use to comprehend a vast and nigh-infinite universe. I know that these operating systems are deeply emotionally resonant to most of you. I'm not mocking, and the show will farm from various religious traditions for story points as cultural frameworks and legendary narratives, with as much respect as we can muster. We will sometimes fail. Sorry about that.)

So we spent a morning cycling through various coven structures — empowerment groups where the new age stuff worked, that led us to all the “success visualization” stuff out there, the co-opting of new age enlightenment theory by the success culture of the US, which led us to a cut-throat group of upscale housewives, and how would they do that, they’d help their kids … and to kids. Hyper-competitive high school kids.

And wow, look at that, there’s high school, one of the most screwed up social structures on earth, where we create identities but become trapped in them; dream of our lives but first encounter the idea that maybe those dreams aren’t possible; the place where we separate from our parents, often on the way to eventually becoming them … knowing who your characters were in high school informs you of who they are now. Did they reject or embrace that first self-determination, and why? Character attitudes toward high school are a great way to explore "backstory" without explicitly dredging up "backstories", because it’s a well-nigh universal experience. Much like we discussed in the Christmas episode, having a story object you can toss into a roomful of people, about which they will all have naturally divergent attitudes towards, is a good story object.

“High school” is also a unified place, which is not only easier to shoot but fits one of my personal bugaboos about show construction. I’m not as dedicated to “what world are we exploring” as my friend Chris Downey is, but I do so like everything pointing in the same direction.

So instead of the goth kids, it would be the alpha kids. But THE LIBRARIANS happens in a secretly haunted world. How did the alpha kids find out about magic, and how are they using it without spreading the secret, people finding out?

That led us to the idea that they didn’t know they were using it, which led to the parents. (Can you tell the idea of hyper-competitive high schools/parents had been a topic of conversation?) And how were the parents wielding magic? The idea that someone found “an artifact” comes immediately to mind, but we were very consciously avoiding artifacts to avoid mowing WAREHOUSE 13’s lawn. At this point in the development cycle we had

The pilot two-parter — artifacts, to match the tone of the movies.
The Minotaur, which broke as a monster/cult episode, with the Thread intended to only be part of the power/focus/effect troika (substitute “dylithium crystal” in for “thread” and that ep works fine),
Fables - a straight-up artifact show.
The Haunted House (written and shot fifth) — it’s a haunted house episode
this one — we were breaking
Santa — already on the burner, but was a MIDNIGHT RUN riff
City of Light — the card was up on the wall since Day One, no artifact. Unless you count the town.

We hadn’t broken "Apple" yet, nor the finale. To be fair, we had inklings of that finale structure from day one, enough to plant the seeds during the season. We wound up NOT using the original idea to fold everything from the season together, but I won’t spoil what the original season finale was just in case we wind up using it for Season Two.

While breaking this story, we were talking about how we could express the hyper-competitiveness of the kids — I mean, what’s a visually interesting, time-dependent way to tell the story? — and the national STEM fair was going on, with its concurrent focus on young female participants. Well heck yeah. The "science fair" card was already up on the wall, something we'd been considering for a more straight ahead sci-fi or maybe Frankenstein story. Combine SCIENCE FAIR with MAGIC, and you have two great index cards which might ordinarily not be pinned together, but taste great nonetheless.

Anyway, not an artifact. “So a person?” somebody said, and lo and behold, there in our pile of “interesting Immortals we might want to meet, collated for an idea we had for a Season 1 arc which we will now probably use for another Season” was Morgan Le Fey. Who of course was tied to Jenkins’s past, the only person who would not have gone to high school, and might be outside our operating theme but now was drawn into it.

The nice thing was, the path we took to break the story actually wound up matching the three-part journey we’d be taking the audience on:

Paul and Rorick then promptly went off and wrote the shit out of it. We wound up focusing on Stone and Cassandra for the backstory bits — we decided it didn’t make sense for everyone to have rebelled completely from high school, and we only have 41:30 a week, for chrissake. While both Baird and Ezekiel are living the lives they want to live at the beginning of the show, both Stone and Cassandra are not. So why not? Whoever has the most interesting problem wins when it comes to page count.

The big production challenge was coming up with the science fair, We knew how to shoot a collection of booths so they seemed bigger than they actually are — we’d done it for the Toy episode of LEVERAGE. But fake toys are one thing, that’s just dollies and balls and hoops in the BG, and we only ever referenced one specific toy. We’d be meeting a half-dozen science fair participants at least, and with Cassandra geeking out over the science, we wanted a lot of real science to throw at the screen. We had to build a roomful of science fair projects?

“Orrr”, as one genius in production design suggested, “ we simply put out the call for science fair participants, like we did for the classic cars episode in LEVERAGE.”

And lo, almost all the science projects in the show are real projects graciously loaned to us by helpful and brilliant local Oregon/Washington students. God bless. Pretty much the only openly manufactured project is the otter booth, inspired by a running argument in the Writers Room about how cute, fluffy otters are actually the monstrous rape-murderers of the sea.

People dig in on weird things.

And of course for casting, we got the awesome Alica Witt and Bex Taylor-Klaus. Bex is not just a great actor, she’s also a straight-up geek. She became so enamored of the Annex set she almost refused to leave, and could only be lured out with promises of Amy’s future return.

Alicia was coming off a startling dark and powerful turn on JUSTIFIED. She did a fantastic job of grounding the character, never waving her arms in airy-fairy magic gestures or changing her voice. She played Morgan as we always wanted: an eminently practical (and misunderstood) survivor in a brutal secret world. We certainly didn’t anticipate the unbridled glee she brought to the fight scene. The idea that Morgan had been alive so long, done so many things, survived so many trials that the sheer novelty of somebody landing a punch would be an absolute, almost sexual delight … well, that certainly opened up some future paths for that character.

By the way, just because you think you know a version of the Camelot story, don’t be sure you know what really happened. As Jenkins will admit, “It was complicated.”

It was tricky, figuring out how many lies to drop. In the end, it’s a family adventure show, and we wanted to reward any enterprising youth who might decide to do a little research. I know I always preferred a play fair mystery, hence my Ellery Queen fixation.

@Madhatter360: So where are the actual judges during all this?

They’re around. A lot of them buggered off after the electrical freak-out and FUN TRAIN! DO NOT STOP THE FUN TRAIN!!

@JulieD:So if LeFay just walked through the door of the Library, could anyone? Or was it because she is LeFay? Do folks often just walk in the door and find Jenkins?

Nope, it’s because she’s hella-magic.

@karykeion:So...Cassie holds onto a little bit of magic at the end of Fables of Doom, then she has a line about how it's maybe a little too easy for her to figure out the magic under the table in this episode, and then a famously powerful sorceress shows up at a STEM fair and physically resembles Cassie a whole lot. Anything we should be taking from that?

Thanks for spotting that “little too easy” bit, not everyone caught it. Now that you’ve seen the finale — yeah, I think there are a few thing you can derive from it. Probably not as many as you’re thinking, but future plotlines are coalescing.

@eacole72:Costuming/wardrobe question ... Did I really see Payless beige patent leather pumps on Morgan le Fey? (I am pretty sure I own the same shoes!)

Morgan dresses the part. How do you think she’s lasted this long?

@alliem:1) did she call him Taliesin? A bard *would* make a pretty super librarian . . . Sounded more like "Thaleus" though maybe . . . 2) Baird sure is the conduit for a lot of incredibly strong magic. I can't wait to find out some of the stuff you guys have in mind for these characters. Also I love her with Flynn and I really hope he's sticking around. This and Falling Skies are both only part-year, right? Right? 3) that said, if I asked nicely, would Baird marry me? Jk. But really. Lol, not really. But really.4) SO excited to have so much of the Leverage team back making TV magic!

1.) No, although he’s a card on the wall.
2.) We shall see. No promises.
3.) Hey, buy a girl a drink first.
4.) And we’re glad to be gainfully employed.

@Nusaiba C:Thanks for the rundown of the ep order! I'm a huge continuity buff and while the eps do work out of order mostly, I wish this had been in the same order before the finale with the whole "loom of fate" business. With that being said and I bet most of this is gonna get a "spoiler" but if we get a second season will the King Arthur stuff with Galahad/Dulaque (who I don't know enough about Arthurian history to guess who he could be) continue? Because that was an awesome "She called him WHAT" moment. Thanks!

Ah, that little “She called him WHAT” was what we were looking for. If there is a Season Two, the Arthurian legend will probably blend more into the “secret magic history of the world” theme.

@GadgetDon:1.) Was Baird protected by the pentagram? Or does she have a rule of 3 coming? And how does Dulac (and Morgan herself) avoid some serious rule of 3 feedback? 2.) If this episode doesn't result in Emmy nominations, There Ain't No Justice.

1.) She didn’t use the app enough, and her misdeeds were bled out by the pentagram.
2.) If genre shows got Emmys, Joss would have one for “The Body”. But they don’t so he doesn’t, so we certainly as shit aren’t going to get one.

@Andrew Timson: 1.) The mom-using-magic-so-her-daughter-can-win reminded me of the episode "Witch" back in season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Coincidence that both daughters were named Amy? 2.) Also, props to the props people for using an Android (or at least Android-esque) phone; somehow A.L.B. doesn't seem like it'd pass Apple's app store review, and would have to be sideloaded. :)

1.) Coincidence. It’s just a super-innocuous name.
2.) Having released an app myself … yeah.

@MacSTL:What direction was Critter given for Cassandra? I find her costuming... unrealistic for well, anyone. Everyone else seems true to character. But of am often doing a 'WTF is she wearing!!!

The clothing already exists. Someone must wear it. In this universe, Cassandra does.

@Eri Smith:These ideas are not completely mine and are in fact from a conversation on Twitter I had earlier after the episode, but Galeas is the nickname of Sir Galahad of the Round table, and Lancelot's full name is "Lancelot Du Lac" So, am I and my accomplices in figuring things out, on the right track? However, what could possibly turn Lancelot to do so much bad? After all, trying to destroy the Library? Trying to kill Santa? The Arthurian legends, the worst Lancelot did was sleep with Guenevere who was his true love. He was faithful to her, and he did good for the round table, even if his affair did cause an end to Arthur's reign. So what could have changed in the last thousand years to cause such a change in character? Am I going to get the word SPOILER thrown at me for bringing this up?

Oh, all he did was sleep with his best friend’s wife and initiate the destruction of Camelot. Hmm, as noted above, let’s just say the famous story isn’t the whole story, so Lancelot didn’t really “change” per se. Lancelot came to the party with plenty of hubris.

@Calla: 1.)So, we know Cassie is super smart - tonight she even mentions all the trophies she won before getting the tumor - so would she still be Librarian material without her tumor? Any chance magic can cure her tumor and still leave her capable of the cool visualization stuff, but maybe so she can do it on command, instead of it being there all the time? 2.) And I'm not sure if this is standing out for me because of the order the eps are airing in, but this is at least the second time that Jones has discovered something and the others haven't thought it important (the girl in the hospital from 'Fables' and now the levitating ball from the Newton's cradle). "Cassandra" is the prophet cursed so no one believes her in Greek Mythology - but here it seems to be Jones in that role. Coincidence? Intentional? Significant? 3.) Aside from all the girl-swooning you caused by having Kane read poetry, I just wanted to comment on how he recited it, with choice pauses and words emphasized - I don't think I've ever heard that poem recited like that before. Did he do multiple takes of the recitation and, if so, did he do it a few different ways? And, if yes, will you put the outtakes on the DVD?

1.) Oh yes. She had the synesthesia before her tumor, the “brain grape” just rewired her frontal lobe to accelerate and distort the effect. With the tumor she’s formidable, without it she’d be even more so. As by now, you’ve seen …
2.) More “lucky thief”, and Ezekiel tends to be observant in different ways than the others. His bread and butter is the mundane.
3.) I’ll see if I can convince him to release an mp3 of him just doing the Romantics.

@Michael Brewer: 1.) So, about midway through the episode I was like "ah, they're going to figure out how to disrupt everything and Morgana won't get her magic boost and then she'll wither and die or something." Now, I like how things ended, but it makes me curious why you ended it the way you did. Also, Cassie is definitely getting pretty good at magic. 2.)Any chances we'll get to hear more about those otherworlds in season 2? Assuming there is one anyway.

1.) First, we really wanted to make sure we had a couple partial-wins in the season, and then one clean loss (“City of Light”) so the audience would understand that the show had variable stakes. Also — Morgans awesome. And Alicia made her more so. So why say goodbye to such an interesting character?
2.) They’re VERY hard to get to. There will be hints, but I doubt we’ll go there.

@vickysg1: 1.) Did a past Librarian ever crossed paths with Morgan Le Fay? 2.) Does Jenkins coming to work for the Library have anything to do with Morgan? 3.) Is Morgan's "Fear the hero" about Flynn? Might he go too far to recover the Library?

1.) Several, including Judson. Whom she adored, after they worked together to handle that pixie problem.
2.) Not causally, but as part of his post-Camelot wanderings.
3.) As you now know, no. It was her way of reminding Jenkins that his version of Camelot’s fall was not precisely how it went down, and that he had bigger problems to worry about.

@2Kris: I’ve just got to say: Ezekiel Jones is one of my favorite characters on television right now.

Well ours too. One of ours. We’re pretty fond of ORPHAN BLACK in the room, to tell the truth. Tatiana Maslany, also genre-robbed of an Emmy.

@amarillion:1.) Sorry, lost track if this has been asked before, but just how good is Jake Stone at compartmentalising his life, and are we ever going to see both halves come crashing together at all? 2.) Are we ever going to see something seriously shake up Ezekiels almost superhuman self confidence? I'm always torn between laughing my arse off at Ezekiel, and wanting to smack him over the head.

1.) He’s very good, and you almost saw it this season. Almost guaranteed to see that episode in Season Two, if there is one.
2.) I doubt it.

@AnnZ: As a librarian who spent most of high school at the science fairs -- with a geology project, no less (not a volcano, though) -- this episode had to be about the best thing ever. Thank you! Normally, librarians wouldn't judge at a science fair at that level (I know, because I'd love to judge, but alas, I'm not qualified). Did Morgan just not care about the judging, or did she figure out who they were when they introduced themselves and figure that she might as well keep them around to get caught up in the rule of three?

Nope, she was distracted. And in case you hadn’t noticed, go back and check the music cues whenever they say “We’re the Librarians.” They may be getting a little help with that cover story …

@Anonymous: 1.)Loved the way that everybody had a day off, but still ended up doing some kind of work at the library. (Except Ezekiel) Please don't tell me he finally got around to using the magic door of the Annex for a bank robbery. I have a really bad feeling about the sirens in the background and the package he was holding. 2.)At the scene when Baird was dangling Morgan le Fay over the guardrail, why didn't she just shoot her in the head or something, and then go rescue the kids? It doesn't take that much time to shoot somebody, does it? 3.) Was Jenkins being overdramatic in the last scene with Baird, or is the whole 'the end is nigh' thing really true? 4.) What happens to Amy afterwards? Does she just go back to her normal life knowing that magic is real? Please tell me that she becomes one of the junior l.i.t your mentioned earlier. 5.) And last, but definitely not the least, the big question....So is Jenkins Galahad and Dulaque Lancelot? Are they really father and son?

1.) Yep. Art though, not a bank.
2.) She’d seen guns not work, and she had a pretty good sense that the magic only worked on a personal level. We actually had a line about that we cut for time.
3.) Well heck yeah.
4.) Season Two.
5.) As you now know, yeah. That said, father and son is a little imprecise.

@bookishmalarkey: My question: I know you've said we'll see Jake's family in S2 if the show gets renewed -- any chance of seeing Cassandra or Ezekiel's family as well at some point?

Probably not, although there is an Ezekiel story we’re playing with that makes sense. Assume it’s part of the “poncy nightshirt” problem, and we won’t go there unless we have a very good reason.

@lisa king: 1.) how likely are we in season 2 to get a person from a characters past show up and cause complications. My choice would be Stones as my Kaniac heart craves more back story and angsty looks. 2.) will there be an annex within the annex for all the jr lits. who will be their guardian. Poor Jenkins

1.) Poncy. Nightshirt.
2.) Hmm. Who WOULD be a good Guardian?

@StellaB: Still waiting to see what special talent/ability Stone brings the group; seems to be mostly Jones and Cassandra coming up with solutions and saving the day

Poor Stone, always doing the crucial but non-flashy things. Go back and watch how many giant chunks of the clue paths he unravels in the previous episodes.

@minimightymouse:1) I *adore* Ezekiel! He seems like he's starting to warm up to the folks around him (I mean, stealing a trophy for Cassandra bc she didn't have any?!). Methinks that he's more human than any of them (or even he) realize(s). 2.) Any particular reason why Cassandra was wearing a seratonin necklace? Or was that the costuming department being awesome again? 3.) The use of Byron was adorable. 4.) Man, the tension between LeFay and Jenkins was palpable. Alicia Witt does a freaking incredible job--I can't wait to see her if/when she comes back. My question, though, is whether or not there will be some epic showdown between she and Jenkins and/or she and Baird? 5.) "Fear the hero," eh? Maybe the hero's trying to maintain the status quo when he really shouldn't be? (It seems to me as though the artifacts are particularly dangerous *because* they're concentrated magic. If this status quo were lessened [or gotten rid of entirely], would it decrease their power [and maybe the need for a Librarian]?)

1.) Ezekiel, at least, is quite sure he’s the best of the bunch.
2.) Costuming being awesome. I believe Lindy tweeted on where to get that necklace, if you hunt it up.
3.) Well thanks. That was one little bit of the script I wrote (I do get speechy) and Kane kicked the hell out of it.
4.) The traditional structure is “Meet. Fight. Team up.”
5.) That is a question worth five seasons to answer. An IMPORTANT one.

@antisocialbutterflies:Questions: 1) Thanks for the answers in the last post. After I posted, I realized that the black mask was mentioned in the Horns of Dilemma too. Related to that observation, I was wondering if you had started filming episodes prior to choosing a new direction or did you have to pull things in post? 2) Why was the spell screen the visualization from Windows media player? 3) This may be more of a writing process question. Were Cassandra's and Stone's interactions with their respective kids intended to be extensions of themselves or were they projecting themselves onto the kids? Observations... 1) Yay for Bex Taylor-Klaus! I always thought that she was grossly underutilized on Arrow. 2) I hate to say it, but I kind of like this better than stealing a science fair. 3) Whomever coined the term "mathemagics" has earned a cold alcoholic beverage on me.

Questions
1.) Figured it out about halfway through the season. Something that complicated, we never could have just cut together.
2.) Looked like it, but was not actually it. Smart ass.
3.) Hmm. You know, there’s an expression: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” A mix of the two, i think.
Observations
1.) We love her too.
2.) We forgive you.
3.) You haven’t heard the last of it.

@Isaac: 1.)You mentioned in a previous post that magic "doesn't work on Jenkins", but clearly Morgana's the exception. Have we seen magic pointedly not work on Jenkins? If so, I've missed it. 2.)Who wrote the "Otters are evil bastards" bit? I nearly fell out of my chair for that.

1.) He’s just genuinely immune. Like I said, Morgan’s just hellaciously powerful.
2.) it’s a room bit that took on a life of its own.

@Greg S.: Kane has a strength/facility with playing opposite children that is very similar (in my opinion) to Matt Smith's. Is that something you keep in mind when writing eps that will have children in them?

I think that actor’s more a teen than a kid, but no, we tend to just rely on the acting. That said, children tend to treat Kane like Batman.

@LauraP: 1.) Considering the episodes airing out of order, with both Fables and Heart coming before Midnight Ride and Apple, in regards to Jake's much warmer attitude towards her is it safe to say that Jake does trust Cassandra again by Santa's Midnight Ride or is that something that's still coming up or is it just never gonna happen? What can I say, I'm invested in their relationship or lack there of. 2.)Also, I don't know if it's a thing, but I appreciate how similar Cassandra is to Willow Rosenberg, both redheaded mathematical geniuses with bubbly personalities who are perhaps very gifted when it comes to magic. 3.) And judging by what Morgan called Jenkins, if he is Galahad, why would he say 'whatever it is we were' to Dulaque? I mean, that would make Dulaque his dad wouldn't it? Unless Jenkins stopped seeing Dulaque as his father a long time ago.....

1.) I’d say after “Heart of Darkness” he trusts her more because she’s proven herself, and Santa falls after that. It’s not 100% yet, but it’s getting there.
2.) Weirdly, the character was auditioned all ethnicities. Total coincidence it wound up being red-headed Lindy.
3.) Not the whole story.

@Mechalith: (a cool theory invalidated by the finale, but still cool)

Not quite, but you’ll be seeing Morgan again, if we can get Alicia when she’s available.

@ChelseaNH: 1.) Who came up with all the science projects -- both the ideas and the presentations? Did you hijack a local STEM competition? 2.) Jenkins and his free will -- how much does he leave the team dangling so they figure stuff out for themselves, and how much does he boost them along so they finish up and he can go back to his "real" work?

1.) As answered, yep.
2.) It’s a bit of a mix. As much as Ezekiel annoys him, Jenkins shares the thief’s personality trait of abhorring boredom.

@Dave Chapman:Please tell me there's a tabletop RPG in the works for this?

Eh, you could put this together in either Fate or Cortex Plus without breaking a sweat.

@EVW: 1.)Given Jenkin's obvious connection to Dulac (and now Morgan Le Fay), I find it strange that no one has had the "What are you not telling us?" talk with him yet. Is it safe to assume that's coming up soon? 2.)Related question: How much does Flynn know about Jenkins? Does he know more than we do? (Does the library have an employment file with his resume, which someone could check?)

1.) When Jenkins does not want to talk about something, it is very hard to get Jenkins to talk about something. He's blanked them all, quite effectively.
2.) Not very much at all. The Library respects secrets, after all.

@Mike: Was turning a spell into an app a deliberate reference to Charles Stross's Laundry series, or just great minds thinking in parallel?

@Anonymous:I was surprised by Cassandra's audible curse when the cloud of flies came out of the student. Was that intentional, or was the sound of the buzzing supposed to effectively bleep it out, but didn't?

We are actually allowed to swear once an episode. We don’t (and we won’t) do it all the time, but we though we’d see how it went. It seemed like the right spot.

@Bill Murray:Does the mathemagics have any relation to Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague De Camp's Harold Shea series of books which have been described as "a high point in the application of sternest intellectual logic to screwball fantasy" and used symbolic logic to travel between various fantasy lands?

No, but now I know what’s going on my Amazon wish list.

@Kalrane:How does the back door work from the outside? For example, Flynn came into the annex through the back door (and didn't apparently know it was even working?!) and now Jones has done the same thing. They don't have access to Jenkin's globe-mechanism-thing from outside the annex, presumably, so how do they work the door without it? Or, if that mechanism doesn't work the door, what does?

For Flynn, assume a lot of cool FUN TRAIN stuff happened on the other side of the door, leading him to accidentally lock in to the Annex just as it was reaching out for him. For Jones, the door was set TO his heist spot, it just hadn' been reset yet.

@Heidi Dobson: My question is that if Cassandra "was" Merlin and still had a spark of magic wouldn't Morgan have been able to sense it at the science fair? Or maybe she was busy concentrating on her own plans for the feedback loop that was coming.

Cassandra is not the Merlyn. Well, this Cassandra …

@Thea: 1.) The desk was the first thing I noticed! She's able to use it without all the usual clutter - they're there but she has more space for her research. 2.) None of them takes the day off, right? Jenkins has an idea Ezekiel uses the Backdoor for not Librarian purposes but he isn't surprised with it, how cute. Do they even have a separate housing near the Annex or did they all decide to inhabit the place (which I'm supposing has larger spaces than what we've been shown)? 3.) When was Eve woven into the Loom of Fate, when she dabbled with the Rule of Three or when she was chosen as the Guardian by the Library? Isn't it amazing she's the first to get Morgan Le Fay off guard in a long time ~wooh~ I remember one of your answers a few episodes back about why a specific letter for a Guardian whereas thousand potentials for the Librarian that implies that Baird's role is quite important (or I dare say even more important than Flynn's) in the grander scheme of things. 4.) Speaking of roles, I like this parallel between Jenkins and Eve. She's reiterating she's not here to kill and I think it says a lot how she's come a long way to the point she has a much clearer grasp on why she's the Guardian and what she's supposed to do in the face of the whole magic returning to world. Also, drunk Jenkins seems not his usual chill self, there's palpable fear about the implication of meeting Morgan Le Fay. Last saw him react similarly was with Dulaque - can't wait to see the finale to see what it all means~ 5.) Oh and Morgan isn't fazed with Eve's power, she looks delighted too. And a smidge turned on even when she could be dropped from that ledge, I'm not sure. Her presence in the STEM Fair though, it's as if she counted on the Librarians coming in and their actions going according to her plans. Creepy.

1.) We’ll address that in the finale discussion.
2.) All of them live nearby, but not in the Library, except Jenkins.
3.) Eve was woven in to the Loom of Fate a looming time ago.
4.) Hope you were satisfied.
5.) Hot creepy. The best kind.

@Donna Marie: Was Morgan Le Fay mentioned in the one of the other Librarian episodes? I'm rewatching the movies because I could swear I heard the name before in one of them

Fair play, DuLaque dropped her name in the Santa episode.

@EVW:Assuming Jenkins is Galahad and Dulaque is Lancelot, are Arthurian characters they "real" persons in the Librarian universe? Or are they members of the Guild of Fictional Entities (mentioned during the Apple episode)? If they are fictional entities, that might explain why they're so hard to kill. (To paraphrase a line from the first movie, "It takes more than a fall to the ground to destroy a legend.")

The answer to that is complicated, and depends on what reality you count as your Prime.

@msd:Will the DVD be in the correct order - like the Leverage S1 was?

Yep.

@grtsanhdn: 1.) Are we ever going to learn more about Ezekiel's past? So far, there's been a few revelations about Eve's, Cassandra's, Jenkins', and Stone's pasts, but not really anything about Ezekiel's. According to one of your earlier posts, he got the Library's letter when can we a teenager. Was he already a theif then, or did he become one later, and if so, what happened for him to go down that path? And does he have any family? I'm not sure if it's just me, but I felt like Ezekiel's speech to Jenkins in 'the Apple of Discord' about choices and being a coward touched some personal issue(s) for him. 1b)Ezekiel's my favorite LIT, but even I admit that he's a bit....abrasive, for lack of a better term, to the team in the beginning. Did the writers decide at the beginning to write Ezekiel that way, or is that all John Kim? But now we see him stealing a trophy for Cassandra to make her feel better. What brought about this attitude adjustment? Exactly when/why/how did he 'allegedly' hack the NSA? 2.) Why did was the magic app needed for setting up the 'five-side Tesla coil field'? Wouldn't the rule of three have gotten really wonky for them since they were using the app to counteract the effects of the app? On a side note, since all of them were outside of the center of the giant pentagram, why weren't they blown up? 2b.) What's up with the little yellow glowing bits of code in the app? Didn't know there was a font/color for writing code for granting magical wishes. Couldn't le Fay have written it normally, or was it left deliberately like that to let us viewers know something was seriously hinky? 3.)So does Stone trust Cassandra now? I mean, when she had the plan for creating the Faraday's cage, he let her take the lead without can hesitation. There hasn't been the 'I like you, but don't trust you' speech from Stone for a while now, so has he gotten over the whole betrayal thing. 4.) I'm going to break my own rules on asking about Jenkins here, but it's not that bad? Isn't Jenkins being sort of hypocritical to Baird when he berates her for not having killing Morgan le Fay, given that in 'Horns of a Dilemma' he said the library chose her for more of a reason than to kill? 5.)What exactly is the Loom of Fate? And when le Fay says 'you've already been woven into the loom of fate' is she specifying Baird, or the Library and everybody associated with it? On that note, did Baird tell anyone other than Jenkins about her and le Fay's little side conversion? Are the LITs aware that the world is about to end? 6.) What's Lamia's stake in all of the this? And for that matter, Dulaque's? Neither of them seem to be the type to destroy the world for the fun of it. And Santa's spiel about Lamia secretly wanting to be a good guy seems weird for how devoted she is to Dulaque. My headcanon at the moment is that Lamia had some kind of connection with the Library at some point, before everything went to hell, and then she vowed vengeance and joined up with Dulaque to reach it. Maybe the Library could have helped somebody she cared about with magic, but didn't because of the rules?

1.) Poncy. Nightshirt. But let’s say he was already technically a miscreant.
1b.) Ezekiel has always been intended to be an abrasive jerk. John actually makes him more charming than originally intended.
2.) The app allowed them to do magic, even though they weren’t magic-users. And they were grounded as part of the pentagram.
2b) The magic reacted oddly with Jenkins’ display.
3.) Getting there. Episodes in the correct order make this arc a whole lot clearer.
4.) Super hypocritical. He must have a VERY GOOD REASON for that.
5.) You know now. But as to the conversation, Baird kept that pretty close to the vest. She considers that to be between her self and Jenkins. Baird, too, respects secrets.
6.) Lamia, for some of you, is the hero of the whole damn show. But her story isn’t over yet …

@Neil W:This is where the UK drops behind as SyFyUK keeps to that antique schedule of one show a week. It's like living in the stone age. So here's my final real-time question of the season: What's the myth/legend/story/thingy you most want to do, but can't for whatever reason (budget/intellectual property/tone/too dumb/too awesome)?

Yeah...man. I can't even remember where that came up but John loathes backstory for backstory sake into a 'correct' backstory. You will only learn background material sufficient to serve the plot of the episode.

Found the source, suffice to say Spoilers for S3 Ep 8 of Leverage - http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2010/09/leverage-308-boost-job-post-game.html -

"@Rebecca: Parker told Eliot she'd been a thief since she was 9. Now we find out she was boosting cars at 12 and was a getaway driver before that (sometime between ages 9 and 12). She was a pickpocket when she met Archie. How old was she when she met up with Archie? We know she lost a brother as a child, will we ever see what happened to her real parents and why she was in the foster system? In the pilot, did she blow up her real parents' home or her foster parents'?

Remember, on Leverage you will never see Wolverine run into the woods in a poncey nightshirt. Or, for those of you who have lives, we will never nail down their backgrounds in one linear narrative. Although I will say those were (one set of) her foster parents she blew up in the pilot, I'm not going to confirm or deny that the boy who died was her real brother or one of her foster brothers."

You know, given the traditional story of Galahad's conception, I can totally see them both being unwilling to go with 'father and son' to describe the relationship. I mean, sure, Lancelot was the biological father, but it was a situation where his consent was dubious, to put it mildly. And it's not like he raised the kid; they first met as adults, with Galahad as the hot new kid showing up the old champ. So it's all kinds of weird and messy.

Of course all that depends on what else is going on in Librarians-Camelot, and I really hope we get more of that.

Soooooo gratifying to see someone who loves Feng Shui enough to want to make it into a series! Hope you enjoyed reading and playing it as much as I enjoyed contributing to it! (Which was a lot. Any time you can include a magical monkey with detachable limbs named Rhesus Pieces, it's a fun ride.)

This was a very informative post. Thanks for peeling back the curtain on TV production, especially the story generating process. Rule of Three was my favorite episode of the season, for the reasons you mentioned, especially about hitting your stride. ... and Please bring back Morgan. She was great.

Thanks again John, both for the answers and tolerating my smartassery. I love that you used real projects. I bet the kids were thrilled to get to share them. My high schoolers were always super proud of theirs.

@Rick: Not comic Wolverine, it was the much-derided origin-story movie. I'm actually amazed there's no YouTube clip of it - young Wolverine and his brother running through the woods in the height of 1840s fashion.

Thanks so much for this - I'm actually right now working on the breakdown of a TV series I pitched recently (I'm in Sweden where it works a bit differently) - the development producer told me that they love the concept/story so the clincher will be if I can really deliver on structure... so this post is about as timely as it could have been! Thanks!

I've been wondering (and of course, forgot to ask) whether it was significant that in the Apple episode, Flynn says "Don't kill the Lamia." THE Lamia, like it's what she is rather than a name. My whole knowledge of the lamia comes from Keats, but . . . if she was actually a mythological creature that seems like a good reason her story might not be over? Or, on the other hand, Noah misspoke and it wasn't important enough to worry about. :)

After all that efficent answering questions the week after broadcast, NOW you answer them late enough that we can watch them in the UK in time to ask (finale tommorrow). Well played Rogers. Well played.

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